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Mac smiled and reached for the coffeepot. As he poured, he noticed the horse photographs on the screen. He took his phone out of his pocket and set it on the table, then pulled out the chair beside her and asked, “Anything?”

Jodie’s smile faded. “Nope. No Luna, and nothing confirmed on her colt. Sagebrush and Lucky are still nothing, too.” She rubbed one hand against her forehead. “And now Rosie and Sierra haven’t been reported in four days.”

Mac set his mug down. “That’s five.”

“Yup. That’s five.”

Neither of them said anything for a second.

“Four days is nothing,” Jodie said. “Horses drop out of the reports all the time. It’s the other three I can’t⁠—”

She stopped.

“But,” Mac said.

“Exactly. But.”

Mac looked at the screen. “Can you show me where they were last seen?”

Jodie opened a map and began pulling up the last confirmed sightings. Mac shifted his chair closer until their knees bumped beneath the table. She marked Luna first, then the others, until there were five points scattered across the screen.

Mac leaned toward it. “Zoom out a little.”

Jodie did.

He studied the roads. The horse locations had caught her attention. His went straight to the landscape. He’d had plenty of training on terrain, on ways in and out of a place, and where to hide in ambush, or seek shelter from one.

“Here.” He pointed. “What’s this road?”

“County. Until here.” Jodie changed layers to property boundaries and pointed to a spot on the map. “See the fence and the gate across that lane? That’s Virgil’s.”

Mac grunted and kept looking. Another route cut north before narrowing into a two-track through rough country.

“Can you switch back to terrain, please?”

“Sure.” She toggled the layer.

Mac leaned closer. Ridges rose between the sighting points, with broken draws cutting through the lower ground. A county road crossed one end of the area, then split into smaller ranch roads and two-tracks. The five dots had looked close enough together on the screen, but that didn’t mean much until he saw what lay between them.

“How are sightings usually reported?”

“Depends. Volunteers drive the roads, hike some of it, use long lenses. Ranchers call things in sometimes. So do tourists passing through. They’re the most excited.”

Mac rubbed his chin, the morning stubble making a scratching sound. “Anybody covering this section regularly?”

Jodie checked her notes. “Not as much. Access gets harder through here.”

“There.” Mac pointed. “That explains some of it.”

“What?” Jodie leaned closer until her shoulder pressed against his.

“That draw is just deep enough. From the road, you probably can’t see much once they drop down into it.”

“So they could all just be seeking water in the drought at lower levels.”

“That would be my guess. And of course you’re wanting to keep a closer eye on them because you’ve picked them out for Arden. You want nothing to happen to them.”

Jodie nodded slowly. “True. Once you buy a red car, all you see are red cars, right?” She bumped her knee against his. “Thanks for the reassurance.”